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Guest commentary: The right to define

By Sarah Massey-Warren

Posted:
09/08/2012 01:00:00 AM MDT

Recently, I have entered either indirectly or directly into conversations that test the definitions of terms we mindlessly fling around. The first was over "middle class," raised by two white men, one a government scientist, the other a union-protected college professor, who maintained that they were a part of the middle class. In their words, the average middle class person had at least a million dollars in retirement funds saved up by the time he (gender emphasis intentional) retired, which they had. Whereas once being a millionaire was the prerogative of the wealthy, now it's commonplace for the middle class.

Most of the "middle class" women I spoke with afterward were as nonplussed as I, as were many men who joined this conversation. Many have lost jobs or suffered pay cuts; women earn four-fifths of men's salary for the same work. None had a million dollars in retirement savings, despite working all of their lives, and none expected to be able to retire any time soon.

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The second "discussion" resulted from the Labor Day weekend column published in the Wall Street Journal. Titled "Are Entitlements Corrupting Us," the debate between Nicholas Eberstadt ( "American Character Is at Stake" ) and William A. Galston ( "They're Part of the Civic Compact" ) looked at the effect of "entitlements" on the U.S. economy and what it means to be "American." Eberstadt argues that "entitlements" have produced "a treasure chest of government supplied benefits readily available, (with the result that) a taker mentality has become part of our life." Oddly, he doesn't address the "taker" mentality of the rich who receive increased tax cuts or bank bailouts, or Congressmen who expect health insurance and pensions underwritten by taxpayers, thereby "taking" without paying into the system. Citing the well-known statistics of increased baby-boomers relying on Social Security and Medicare, and the high cost of Medicaid, Erberstadt evokes the libertarian argument of Americans' traditional pride in relying on oneself.

Conversely, Galston maintains that Americans have already paid into these benefits and, therefore, feel "entitled" to the retirement and health care into which they invested their earnings. Although recognizing the need for change to the system to stabilize the U.S. economy, he contends that Americans believe in hard work, and that as a moral society, we should help those who live in poverty and work forty hours a week (such as the laborer who served your vente caramel latte this morning).

Then there's the ongoing discussion about what defines "life," "rape," and a woman's "entitlement" to her body -- or not, according to the religious right.

First, what bothers me is the word "entitlement," the inference being that if the government facilitates health and retirement plans for those who pay into them, it somehow implies a weakness of character. I have scoured the Internet to find out why these programs are called "entitlements," whereas Wall Street Band bailouts, tax cuts for the wealthy, and so forth are just assumed (by the entitled class) to be their due.

The larger question is one of definition: Who gets to define what is a constant subject of my writing classes -- who gets to say what a "Best" "American" essay is? Who defines rights accorded to a woman's body (whereas nobody is debating the same rights for men)? Who defines middle class? Or "entitlements" ?

The entitled -- by virtue of their gender and assets. The "entitlement" up for the next election isn't just about Social Security and Medicare and Medicaid, but the corporate write-offs, tax cuts for the wealthy, and removal of health care access for women's issues. It's about the power to define for others while remaining unaffected oneself.

In "Letter from Birmingham Jail," Martin Luther King Jr. defines unjust laws as " a code that a numerical or power majority group compels a minority group to obey but does not make binding on itself." Such laws allow entitled people to disappear the "entitlements" of others -- to Medicare, Social Security, one's own body. The conservative William F. Buckley deplores the tendency of Americans to avoid speaking out against the empowered in "Why Don't We Complain."

I'm speaking out. Social Security and Medicare are what we have earned, according to law. Increasing taxes for the wealthy and decreasing defense spending won't solve the budget deficit alone; reform of all "entitlements" includes those for the wealthy. All of us have the right to define our terms and our future, not just one gender with big bucks.

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